Gov. Chris Christie’s decision to fire the contractor presiding over the state’s most infamous superstorm Sandy rebuilding program was bolstered by a federal review that found several shortcomings in how the program had been run.

The report also states “New Jersey has made significant progress” in distributing more than $1 billion in aid in about one year’s time and it listed no violations, though some “concerns” were noted — a point the Christie administration touted in its press release.

However, the state Department of Community Affairs, which was the go-between agency for the $1.83 billion in Sandy aid approved last year, was not blameless in the problems observed in connecting people in need with the aid available.

Staff from the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development found the state Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation program was plagued with poor recordkeeping and wasn’t successful in engaging homeowners outside of Monmouth and Ocean counties, especially minorities and lower-income households, according to a HUD management review circulated last week by the Christie administration.

The review, which was performed between Feb. 18 and 21, references a contractor “that may not have performed to the state’s expectations.” It also states DCA “did not carefully manage” the company it hired to run the program, that too few lower-income homeowners were engaged in RREM without their supervision, and the state didn’t more clearly define how the aid money should be spent.

Hammerman & Gainer International, which didn’t immediately respond Monday to a call seeking comment, was quietly fired in December. The Christie administration has been tight-lipped about HGI’s failings, with the governor only saying they had “fundamental disagreements” over how the program should be run. HGI had been paid $37.6 million for six months of work.

The feds reviewed 83 RREM applications and found that about 1-in-4 had missing or misfiled source documents. Requests for RREM funds required proof of all manner of things, such as pay stubs for income verification and a FEMA determination of damage letter. No violation was issued regarding the lost materials, though the situation will be monitored, according to the review.

“Based on the review, the state has identified issues with RREM supporting documentation and is taking appropriate action to correct these issues,” the document states.

HUD staff also was concerned that the difference in the application rates between white and minority homeowners could result in violation of the program’s requirements. Low- and moderate-income homeowners were not being served sufficiently through RREM, according to the review. The report is careful to say that “HUD observed no evidence of prohibited discriminatory practices in application processing.”

The state and a coalition of housing and minority rights groups agreed to a settlement on May 30 to confront some of the ways in which New Jersey’s distribution of housing aid was failing to adequately address the needs of lower-income people as well as Latinos and African-Americans. The deal, which sprung from a discrimination complaint made to HUD, required New Jersey to review all rejected and unappealed RREM applications, among other promises.